Refrigerator truck



Aug 6, 1935. F. C.JONES REFRIGERATOR TRUCK Filed July 7, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l g'rvventot Aug. 6, 1935.

} F. c. JONES REFRIGERATOR TRUCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July v, 1953 w w .w

Patented Aug. 6, 1935 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE VREFRIGERATOR TRUCK Frank C. Jones, Toledo; Iowa Application July '1; 1933, Serial No. 679,428

7 Claims.

This invention relates to refrigerator trucks and has for its object the production of a simple and eflicient means for facilitating theliftin and mov ing of refrigerators or other heavy articles.

Another object of this invention is the production of a simple and efficient truck in the nature of a jack which may be moved under therefrigerator, or other article, to be lifted and which may then be adjusted for lifting the article whereby the article may be easily and conveniently moved from place to place. i g i A further object of this invention is the production of a simple and efficient truck having an efficientlifting mechanism. whereby the object to be lifted may be elevated above the floor in order to permit the truck to freely move the object to a desired position. 7 J

With these and other objects in View, this in vention consists in certain novel constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the drawings:----

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a refrigerator showing the manner in which the same may be lifted prior to moving by the use of a pair of trucks; v I

Figure 2 is an end elevation of a refrigerator showing one of the trucks ina lifting position;

Figure 3 is a section taken online 3 --3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an edge elevation of the lower portion of the truck with the lifting shoe removed showing the manner in which the truck may be used for lifting articles which are not provided with supporting legs,such for instance as cases, boxes, and the like;

Figure 5 is an enlarged front elevation of the truck, the lifting arms being. shown in vertical section;

Figure 6 is a section taken on the line 6'-6 of Figure 5;

Figure '7 is a section taken on the line T-T of Figure 5;

Figure 8 is a section taken on line 88 of Figure 7; I

Figure 9 is an. inverted perspective view of 'the lifting shoe;

Figure 10 is a vertical sectional view through a portion of the truckshowing the manner inwhich the lifting handle may-be thrown off center-to hold the lifting arms in a set' lifting position.

Figure: His 2. detail perspective view of a portionwof one of the: vertical rails of thetruck, showing one: of: the lifting:- arms mounted thereon;

By referring tothe drawings, itwill be seen that l designatesthe refrigerator or other object to be lifted, and in carrying out the present invention, I preferably employ two trucks T which are adapted to fit one upon each side of the refrigerator or other article to be lifted to facilitate the moving 5 or shifting of the position of the article to a desired location.

The truck T preferably comprises a pair of parallel vertically extending rails 2 which are connected at their upper ends by means of an arched handle 3. The lower ends of the rails 2 are supported upon a base 4 which is preferably of an angle iron structure having depending roller supporting arms 5 located at the respective ends thereof for supporting a transversely extending roller 6, which roller 6 ispreferably provided'with a resilient or other suitable covering 1 to constitute a tire. The arms 5 are extended slightly outwardly to project laterally of the central 1ongitudinal axis of the rails 2 in order to facilitate the holding. of the rails in a proper vertical position when weight is placed upon the article supporting shoe hereinafter described. The longitudinally extending substantially parallel rails 2 carry transversely extending'bracing bars 8, which bracing bars are provided with cushions 9" upon their inner facesto abut against the sides of the refrigerator or other object to prevent the marring of the sides of the refrigerator when the trucks are in use. Pivote'd handles iii are secured'to bands [I which bands are carried by the rails 2 and these handles I0 may be swung to the positionshown in dotted lines in Figure 1', to facilitate the moving of the trucks when in place and when released are adaptedto normally drop to' alowered position. Each handle l0- is provided with a laterally extending foot l2- which is adapted to abut against its supporting rail 2 to limit the upward swing of the handle l0 beyond its horizontalv position when moved upwardly. The supporting hands it maybe secured in any suitable or: desired manner to prevent the" same from moving longitudinally of the rails 2.

Each rail 2, which is preferably circular in cross-section, and formed of a pipe-like structure,- -carrie's a longitudinally sliding sleeve l3 to'permit the sleeve to be adjusted longitudinally of its supporting rail 2"; As shown in" Figure 7, each of the'rails 2' carries a sliding sleeve [3; and the sleeves [3' are connected transversely by abracing bar i3' Each sleeve I3 is provided upon its rear face with: a journal portion l4; in,which-journa1 p0rti0n HI is journaled the adjustin link t usti g link i5 constituting a substantially U-shaped member the ends of which are connected by means of a plate in to provide an elongated loop. This link it is adapted to adjustably engage the notched lifting arm H, which lifting arm ill is slidably mounted within the longitudinally extending notch or channel l8 formed in the sleeve i3. In this way, the notched lifting arm ll may be adjustably held in a set position with respect to the sleeve to permit the arm i! to be properly adjusted to a lifting position. Each arm ll is provided with a projecting end portion i9, and each end portion i9 is provided with a vertically extending aperture 28. These apertures 23 in the end portions l9 receive the reduced depending extensions 2! of the shoe sup porting rods 22, these rods 22 being removable from engagement with the end portions is so as to permit the lifting shoe 22 to be removed from these end portions it) when so desired. Each end portion 59 is provided with an enlarged boss 23 upon its upper face, as shown in Figure 4 in detail, and also in Figure 11, to constitute an abutment for the outer end of the end portion 59. As is shown in the drawings, and as previously described, each rail 2 carries a sleeve l3, and each sleeve l3 carries an arm ll, and these arms ll support the lifting shoe 22 These lifting shoes 22 preferably comprise a pair of sections 2 3 which are connected together by means of a connecting bar 25 which connecting bar 25 is slidably mounted in the end portions 2d and the connecting bar 25 carries at its outer ends the shoe supporting rods 22. The sections 24' are provided with suitable channels 2 2 in which this connecting bar 25 is slidably mounted thereby permitting a proper adjustment to allow the shoe 22 to be collapsed to be accommodated in a minimum amount of space for storage, and also to permit a proper adjustment to be made to allow the reduced extensions 2! to be fitted into the apertures 20.

Each sleeve 53 is connected to a suspending link 28 and these links 26 are in turn pivotally connected to a lifting handle 2?, the lifting handle 2? having offset ends 28 pivotally connected, as at 29, to the rails 2, the links 26 being connected to the handle 2i, as at 30. The pivotal connection 3t is offset with respect to the piv-- otal connection 29 so as to permit the pivotal connection 353 to be swung off center to the pivotal connection 29 when the handle 21 is raised to a vertical position, such as is shown in Figure 10.

As is shown in Figure 4, the end portions of the arms ll may be used with or Without the shoe 22" and in lifting boxes, or other containers which are not provided with legs, the projecting end portions It] may extend under the bottom of the container A, and the boss 23 will rest against the shoulder portion 3i thereby firmly holding the end portions 19 of the arms I! against slipping.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the present truck is adapted for use in moving and lifting boxes, cases, refrigerators, or other articles or objects, particularly those of considerable weight. It is therefore not desired to limit the present invention to that of a refrigerator lifting truck, although the same has been particularly designed for this purpose.

The operation of the device is as follows:-

The article or object may be tilted, if desired, particularly where no supporting legs are provided, to a desired position to permit the extensions or projecting ends l9 to be extended under the container at a desired position, whereupon the truck may be moved to the position shown in Figure 4 for the purpose of supporting the container.

When it is desired to move or support a refrigerator having legs such as is illustrated in Figure 1, the truck is rolled under one side end of the refrigerator by pushing the roller 6 under the refrigerator whereupon the arms ll are adjusted to the desired position and the rails 2 are swung to a vertical position, such as is shown in Figure 1. lfhe handle 27 may then be swung to a position shown in Figure 6, to the position shown in Figures 1 and 10 for the purpose of lifting, the refrigerator from the floor or other support, this swinging movement of the handle 2i causing the shoe 22 to engage the bottom of the refrigerator and lift the bottom of the legs from engagement with the floor or other support. As is shown in Figure l, and as has been previously described, two of these supporting trucks are preferably used, one upon either side of the refrigerator or other object to be moved, thereby facilitating the lifting as well as the moving of the object to a desired position. The refrigerator may, after it has been moved to the desired position, be lowered merely by swinging the handle 2'! downwardly to the position shown in Figure 6, at which time the truck may be readily removed from engagement with the refrigerator or other object.

It should be understood that certain detail changes in mechanical construction may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention so long as these changes fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A truck of the class described comprising a frame, said frame comprising a pair of parallel rails, sleeves slidably mounted upon said rails, links pivotally connected to said sleeves, a handle pivotally connected to said frame and said links being pivotally connected to said handle 01f center to cause said sleeves to be automatically held in a vertically adjusted position when said handle is swung to a vertical position.

2. A truck of the class described comprising a frame, a sleeve slidably mounted upon said frame, a lifting arm slidably and adjustably mounted upon said sleeve, means for holding said lifting arm in an adjusted position upon said sleeve, said arm having article engaging means, and means for adjusting said sleeve upon said frame.

3. A truck of the class described comprising a frame, a sleeve slidably mounted upon said frame, a lifting arm slidably and adjustably mounted upon said sleeve, means for holding said lifting arm in an adjusted position upon said sleeve, said arm having article engaging means, means for adjusting said sleeve upon said frame, said arm having a projecting end, and a shoe supported upon said arm.

4. A truck of the class described comprising a frame having a pair of parallel rails, a sleeve slidably mounted upon each rail, each sleeve having a longitudinally extending channel, a lifting arm slidably mounted in each channel, said lifting arm having a plurality of adjusting notches, an adjusting link pivotally secured to said sleeve and engaging said notches for holding said lifting arm in an adjusted position, means for moving said sleeves upon said frame, and a lifting shoe carried by said arms.

5. A truck of the class described comprising a frame having a pair of parallel rails, a sleeve slidably mounted upon each rail, each sleeve having a longitudinally extending channel, a lifting arm slidably mounted in each channel, said lifting arm having a plurality of adjusting notches, an adjusting link pivotally secured to said sleeve and engaging said notches for holding said lifting arm in an adjusted position, means for moving said sleeves upon said frame, each arm provided with a projecting portion, a lifting shoe supported by said projecting portions, and supporting rods removably engaging said projecting portions.

6. A truck of the class described comprising a frame having a pair of parallel rails, a sleeve slidably mounted upon each rail, each sleeve having a longitudinally extending channel, a lifting arm slidably mounted in each channel, said lifting arm having a plurality of adjusting notches, an adjusting link pivotally secured to said sleeve and engaging said notches for holding said lifting arm in an adjusted position, means for moving said sleeves upon said frame, each arm provided with a projecting portion, a lifting shoe supported by said projecting portions, supporting rods removably engaging said projecting portions, said shoe comprising a pair of adjustable sections, and a bar slidably mounted in said sections for holding said sections in assembled relation.

'7. A truck of the class described comprising a frame, article lifting means carried by said frame and movable longitudinally thereof, said article lifting means comprising supporting members having sockets formed therein, supporting rods removably fitted within said sockets, slidable adjustable supporting shoes carried by said rods and spanning the distance between the rods to provide a broad article lifting face.

FRANK C. JONES. 

